Hanson`s Towing Bill Faces Vote

May 6, 1985|By Steve Nichol, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — For the third year in a row, Rep. Carol Hanson is fretting over her attempt to regulate an industry she calls ``towing for dollars.``

The Boca Raton Republican got the House to pass a bill two years ago that allowed local governments to set vehicle-towing rates. The bill died in the Senate. ``I wasn`t savvy enough to go over and move it,`` she said.

Last year, Hanson`s bill passed both the House and Senate, but was vetoed by Gov. Bob Graham because of an amendment tacked on by Sen. Carrie Meek, D- Miami. That amendment would have allowed charter counties to prevent additional taxi, rental car, jitney or limousines companies from coming into the county.

Now the towing bill -- for the third time -- is up for a final vote in the House today,and Hanson is worried.

On Thursday, several amendments were tacked on to the bill, including one which says the Florida Highway Patrol will use a ``rotation wrecker`` system when carting off wrecked, disabled or abandoned vehicles.

``People start getting nervous,`` Hanson said, when legislators start telling the Highway Patrol how to do its business. The FHP has used three different methods of selecting a wrecker service, including lowest bidder, franchises and rotation, she said.

``We`ve run it up to the governor`s office,`` Hanson said of the newly changed bill. If Graham has any problems with the FHP provision, Hanson said she will attempt to get the amendment`s sponsor, Rep. James Ward, D-Fort Walton Beach, to drop the proposed amendment.

Hanson`s bill would allow local governments, cities or counties, to set the maximum rates wreckers would be allowed to charge for towing vehicles from private property, public streets and rights of way.

Wreckers also would have to get occupational licenses from the cities or counties in which they operate.

Rental or leased cars that have been stolen and are later towed by wreckers will not cost the owners any fees for the first 24 hours the wrecker service has possession, the bill says.

If the House does pass the bill today, Hanson said she won`t repeat the mistake she made two years ago in not pushing the measure through the Senate.

Hanson took up the issue of regulating wrecker charges based on complaints in her district, which covers Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach and Lighthouse Point. But in seeking support of the bill in the House Thursday, she said the bill would address a statewide problem.

``It wipes out a growing and unscrupulous business in Florida,`` Hanson told her colleagues. ``It`s known as the towing-for-dollars business.``

Hanson said she has received complaints from constituents saying one person might be charged $120, the next $100, and the following $250, all by the same towing firm.

``There is a need for this legislation. It`s just not a local problem. It`s just another get-rich-quick scheme. For us to let unscrupulous towers take our cars and hold them for ransom, it doesn`t sit too well,`` Hanson said.

One towing company in Deerfield Beach really upset constituents, Hanson said, by taking their cars as they watched the Christmas boat parade in Boca Raton one year. Others were upset to see their cars gone after watching a Fourth of July fireworks display in Deerfield.